They tell you that this is the new normal. They tell you the chaos and violence you see on your screens and feel in your bones is just a temporary phase; merely an adjustment to the long held systemic injustices. They’ll give you a dozen different reasons for it—global warming, economic inequality, racism, political partisanship. But you know there’s something more happening. You saw it on the train in Charlotte, North Carolina. You saw it at the Catholic Church filled with school children in Minnesota. You saw it yesterday on the campus in Utah. And you know it’s all connected.

For generations, this country, with all its flaws, was built on an idea. An old, unfashionable idea: that we are accountable to something or someone higher than ourselves. That there is a moral order that precedes us, and a moral compass within us. God.

It was a simple truth that gave meaning to sacrifice and restraint. It told us not to murder, not to steal, not to lie. Not just because a cop might catch you, but because it was wrong. This shared belief was the foundation of our culture, the unwritten contract that held us together. Now, we’ve decided we don’t need it anymore. We’re enlightened. Progressive. We have The Science and self-help books. What could go wrong?

Our academics, our media, and our politicians scorn God. They mock truth. And so many of us have blindly followed, afraid to make waves.

The first consequence of leaving God behind is a deep, profound uncertainty. Without a divine order, we are forced to invent our own morality and our own truths. And what a terrifying burden that is. Everything becomes a matter of opinion, including the big questions such as the right to life, what is a man or woman, or even who deserves to live. There’s no absolute good, no absolute evil. So, who decides what’s right? The loudest voice? The one with the most power? The one who controls the most algorithms? When there is no moral law, there is only power. And as you’ve no doubt noticed, the people who have power don’t seem to have a problem with lying to you, or stealing from you, or using force against you. When you have no moral ground to stand on, you have no way to object.

Some 38% of the total respondents to a poll last year said it would be “somewhat justified” to murder President Trump, while 31% said the same about Elon Musk. However, for those self-identifying in that group who were more left-leaning, those numbers grew to 48% and 55%, respectively.

Did we really believe this would have no real world consequences? When you leave God behind, you no longer feel the need to better yourself because the world conforms to your will. So, it’s the world that needs changing. That’s when politics becomes your god.

And that certainty in your own cause inevitably begets violence. When people have no shared belief system, no understanding of a universal moral code, they lose their sense of connection to one another. Your neighbor is no longer a fellow traveler on a shared journey, but a stranger who exists in a different moral universe. When you believe in nothing, you will fall for anything. And what happens when a person, or a whole society, decides that the only thing that matters is their own immediate gratification or their own political goals? When there is no higher authority, what is there to stop them from taking what they want? We are witnesses to the horrors of our decision to leave God behind. The consequences are all around u. We view the random acts of cruelty, the explosive violence in our cities, the feeling that every disagreement could spiral into something far worse. And yes, the assassination of a young husband and father who stood on a college campus to celebrate free speech.

This is what a culture coming apart looks like.

The people in charge will tell you that it’s all just a coincidence. But you know better. You know that you can’t just throw out the foundation of a building and expect it to stand. You can’t replace faith with a politicians, academics, or bureaucracies and hope for peace. We are living through the consequences of the most wrongheaded experiment in modern times, a great divorce from the ideas that made this country possible. The question is, are we brave enough or even aware enough to admit it, before it’s too late?